LITTLE ROCK • Lawmakers have been working on numerous issues in preparation for the regular session that begins January 2009.

As always, the major issues are public education, the rising costs of getting a college degree, criminal justice and prisons, transportation, health care and

economic development.

A U.S. Supreme Court decision out of Seattle and Louisville may require the Arkansas legislature to change school choice laws, which allow students to transfer to schools outside the districts in which they live.

Several Arkansas school districts have been through desegregation lawsuits, and they restrict student transfers that make schools more racially segregated. Those policies may have to change because the Supreme Court limited the use of race as a factor in assigning children to public schools.

The Senate will consider legislation to strengthen a school bus safety law first passed in 2007. Act 718 requires school bus drivers to report motor vehicles that pass their buses while they're stopped and children are getting on or off. It hasn't been effective, though, because prosecutors said they need more solid proof of who was driving the offending vehicle. Lawmakers said prosecutors could be more responsive to reports of violations.

State-supported universities have approved their budgets for the coming school year that include increases in tuition and fees.

The cost of a college education has consistently gone up faster than the general inflation rate, but faculty salaries have not increased at the same pace as tuition and fees. Some legislators have questions about how much state aid is needed so universities can hold down tuition.

The state Board of Correction, which oversees state prisons, has discussed a plan for expanding prison capacity. The proposal requires legislative approval.

There are about 14,000 inmates in the state prison system. On any given day, however, as many as 1,000 may be in county jails awaiting transfer into the state system.

The state reimburses county sheriffs for the costs of housing those inmates, but in counties where the local jails are full to capacity, the presence of state inmates limits the number of criminal suspects who can be locked up. Often, non-violent offenders are released on bond rather than booked into jail.

In the past few years, drug courts have been effective in keeping some non-violent drug offenders out of the prison system. When those offenders go through drug court, they must agree to take random testing and strict rehabilitation programs. It's cheaper to put them through drug court than prison, therefore the legislature is likely to consider an expansion of the system.

Plans are being worked up to add drug courts in areas of Arkansas that don't have one, and to create drug courts for juveniles.

A restructuring of the state Martin Luther King Commission is expected to come up in the 2009 session. Currently, it has 26 members and its size makes it difficult to get a quorum and conduct business.